Editorial: A hole in Dunkin' logic when it yanked Rachel Ray ad

Political correctness, it appears, is no longer the sole domain of the extreme portion of the left wing.

The Patriot Ledger

Political correctness, it appears, is no longer the sole domain of the extreme portion of the left wing.

Canton-based Dunkin’ Donuts, bowing to pressure from conservative demagogues, has pulled an online ad featuring its ubiquitous spokeswoman Rachel Ray because she was wearing a black and white scarf that may or may not be similar to ones worn by supporters of Muslim extremists.

This is right up there with the reactionary call to rename French fries “Freedom fries” because of France’s opposition to the Iraq war or the widely-circulated story of the school that foolishly changed the nursery rhyme to “Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep” so the ditty would be less offensive and more inclusive.

We don’t know which is more maddening – isolationists who see bogeymen under every fringed neck garb or the all-American, overly-image conscious coffee chain that tries to be as inoffensive as possible to maintain its broad appeal buckling under for something that should have been a nonstarter.

The online ad for Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee, which ran a little more than two weeks before being pulled last weekend, has a picture of a smiling Ray wearing the scarf wrapped around her neck and holding an iced coffee while standing in front of trees with pink blossoms. Not your basic standard desert scene.

Conservative columnists and bloggers complained that the scarf looked like the black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf that has come to symbolize Muslim extremism and worn by the likes of the late Yasser Arafat.

While claiming “no symbolism was intended,” Dunkin’ Donuts pulled the ad quicker than you can say “dark, no sugar.”

Which is exactly what fuels these kinds of silly jihads, if we can use that term without offense. Will they now refuse to serve their coffee black to avoid offending anyone?

The chain should have simply said the scarf is paisley, which it is, and left the ad up. After all, what self-respecting terrorist would wear paisley?

Political correctness, no matter which side initiates it, is about censorship. And forcing a corporation whose image could not be anymore tied to mainstream America to bow to an unfounded charge of terrorist sympathizer smacks of McCarthyism.

Apparently, no matter which side of the political spectrum one is on, the ability to see the bigger picture disappears when one is wearing blinders.